God Moment During Heavy Rains in Indiana
- mallory865
- Apr 18
- 5 min read
April 18, 2025 Newsletter
Time and time again, God shows us that His plans are better than our own.
This recently happened at one of our Permanent Collection Sites in Noblesville, Indiana.
Pat Baumer, the contact for the Permanent Collection Site and one of Midwest Mission’s board members, relayed this great story to us.
Last Wednesday, Zionsville UMC in Zionsville, Indiana contacted Pat about picking up 80 Cleaning Kits. The church had sent their members out to assemble buckets, and over a couple weeks, they began bringing the buckets back. Now, they were ready to donate the buckets, they just needed someone to pick them up, in order to get them out of the way for church on Sunday.
The same day, one of Midwest Mission’s drivers, Brett King, was driving to Noblesville to pick up donations from Pat’s Permanent Collection Site. This seemed like the perfect opportunity! Brett could drive about an hour to Zionsville and pick up the buckets after getting the supplies from the Collection Site. So, Pat called Zionsville and let them know someone should be out that same day to get the buckets.
Brett and Pat began loading the trailer with all of the donations. When they were finished, Brett was worried there wouldn’t be enough room and weight allowance left. He consulted Ramon Ortiz, Midwest Mission’s Operations Manager, and it was decided that he wouldn’t be able to safely pick up the buckets.
Pat completely understood, and called Zionsville to let them know it wouldn’t be possible for Brett to pick up the supplies. The person Pat had been coordinating with deflated. They had already moved all of the buckets to their front foyer, in anticipation that they would be picked up. While the person on the phone tried to think of a solution, Pat decided, “Now I’ve got an empty trailer, why don’t I just come over and pick them up.” So, he did.
While he was driving over, the wind was picking up, and the sky was getting darker and darker.
Just a few hours later, heavy rain, tornadoes, and severe thunderstorms swept through Indiana. Brett made it home just in time. If he would have gone an hour out of his way to pick up the buckets, he would have been caught up in the terrible weather with a truck and large trailer!
But that’s not even the biggest God moment!
Southern Indiana received so much rain that rivers were flooding.
Dennis Ratekin, the director of the Shelby County Indiana Emergency Management Agency, called Pat as the flood waters began affecting homes and businesses. He called wandering if Pat had any Cleaning Kits on hand.
Because of Zionsville UMC, and needing to bring it back to his Collection Site, he did have Kits available, within a few hours drive of Shelby County. Pat coordinated with Dennis, and took a truck down on Tuesday with 50 Cleaning Kits.
On Wednesday, Pat received a call from Ron Heustis John Young, Disaster Relief Coordinators in Sellersburg, Indiana. They heard Shelby County received Kits and were wondering if Pat had any more. He sure did! Ron and his wife, Jane, picked up 15 Cleaning Kits.
Praise God!
If Pat didn’t have any on hand, he would have had to coordinate with Midwest Mission in Pawnee, Illinois to get the Kits down to Southern Indiana. It would have happened quickly, but not as fast as the next day or same day!
Dennis Ratekin in Shelby County expressed his deep thanks, and already shared that they would need more Kits, that would come from Illinois.
God has greater plans in store. He sees the bigger picture. He knows what is needed where and when. We just have to listen.
Shipment to Honduras!
On Tuesday, April 15, a container full of needed supplies left Midwest Mission and headed towards Honduras! This shipment was valued at $138,636.00 and weighed 17,202lbs.
It included:
Fire Equipment
Medical Supplies
Little boy and girl outfits
56 Cover Them With Love QUilts
15 Bikes
25 Electric Sewing Machines
4 Treadle Sewing Machines
Tarps
Disposable Diapers
School Supplies
Hygiene Supplies
Tools
300 Birthing Kits
The supplies sent were specifically requested by Cepudo, our partner on-the-ground in Honduras, who we recently visited in March.
While in Honduras, we spoke with the Food For The Poor Gifts-In-Kind team who works to meet the needs of organizations like Cepudo, by receiving supplies from organizations like Midwest Mission. Javier Ramirez, Food For The Poor’s Senior Director of Procurement and Fulfillment, said, “Midwest Mission’s containers are remarkable. They are specifically catered towards the needs of the recipient. Everything inside is specifically asked for, and Kits are created with the end recipients in mind. When Cepudo sees they are receiving a container from Midwest Mission, they are so excited, because they know it will be filled with items needed for their programs.”
It wasn’t until visiting with Food For The Poor and Cepudo that we realized not all organizations function this way. We don’t just send our leftovers, or junk, or what we think people need, we send what has been asked for, based on the needs of the populations organizations on-the-ground serve.
You are a big part of that. By responding to the needs listed in the newsletter, or by sending in items in the Kits and Projects Brochure, you bring requested aid to people in crisis.
What’s Stitchin?
Midwest Mission is blessed beyond measure with talented volunteers who stitch, knit and crochet beautiful Baby Sweaters, Children’s Outfits, Cover Them with Love Quilts, Diapers, Day/Night Pads, School Bags and much more.
Please take a moment to see…
What’s Stitching?
Sew Much Joy (Glen Carbon, IL): Jane Johnson and a large group of volunteers arrived at our warehouse bright and early on Monday morning to work in our warehouses. Some even got to do a little sewing in our Sewing Shop. Thank you for sharing the JOY!
Lisa keen (Verona, WI): Lisa delivered Day & Night Pads and Receiving Blankets to our warehouse in March. She has just finished her first Layette Gown and her church has completed a Cover Them with Love Quilt. So exciting!
Auburn UMC (Auburn, MI): Sheila Berner’s church has spent the past year making items for the Layette Kits. The sewers were joined by their Youth to help assemble over 80 kits in approx. 1 hour on a Saturday morning. They now have 100 finished Layette Kits to send to Midwest Mission. Thank you is never enough
If you have a passion for making handmade items for Midwest Mission and would like to join our Sewing Group Monthly Zoom Meeting (1st Monday of the month at 10am CT), please send your group name (if you are a part of a sewing group) and your name and email to Teresa@midwestmission.org to receive an invitation to join our next meeting.